Because the night

"Don't forget. Always use your voice"
Patti Smith, Torino May 6th 2017

Saturday is long gone, but I'm left wishing I could re-live it over and over, like in "Groundhog Day".
Barbara and I met in front of the Auditorium Rai, shortly after 8, had a coffee, chatted a little while we waited for Patti Smith's concert to begin.

Surely not the most technical-woes-free concert I've ever been to, but the most moving and thrilling in a long time.

The audience was the first bonus point. It was packed of committed folks, fans from all generations and walk of life that were there to listen to Patti and not to chat about their holiday plan or hairdresser while coming and going from the bar or munching pop-corn (it did happen at the Wilco's gig in NY, further proves for my theory of the spoiled crowds in big cities). There was a buzz while waiting for the concert to start that transformed in sheer exhilarance when She appeared on stage and reached its peak on the encore.

Then the concert began.
Then there was Patti on stage and nothing really mattered. If she stood on stage reading a grocery list, she would have probably delivered the most beautiful grocery list reading ever.

She's a magnet that draws you in.
When she sings and when she speaks.
When she laughs and when she dances.

She is strong and mellow.
She's peace and calm, she's rage and wisdom.

She leaves you standing, she brings you the smile you wear on the face and in the heart when you walk back home.

Fighting on the stairs

The facts:
1. I sold my flat back at the end of March.
2. I am going to sign the purchase of my new flat at the end of May.

Logical conclusion: I had to find a place to live for the two months when I'd officially be with "no fixed abode" (that's what I am according to the city register right now, it's certified homelessness).
The best solution to the problem turned out to the the simplest and closest to home. I moved one floor above, renting out my friend Pippo's flat.
Very quick move, just one floor up; it meant I could keep living in a place that was familiar to me and I didn't have to spend extra time looking for a place.

So I moved up and it felt I moved into a different world: no more quiet evening. It's a non-stop festival of people screaming, arguing and telling each other to f**k off.
The days I've worked from home, I also discovered that there are other neighbours fighting during the afternoon. Great, they take shifts.

Days passed, with me trying to make sense of this change: how can a set of stairs extra drop me into a whole different universe?
And then, one morning I woke up and found this on the stairs:

I tried to make a sense of the whole situation: fights, insults, a psycho as a neighbour.... mmmh no, let's make it a couple of psychos living on the 2 flats near me, and now somebody spooned soil out of a vase and left it on the stairs.

What's the meaning of it all? Is some superior powers trying to tell me something? Maybe to double check my door is locked at night?

I'm not sure, the only "logical" step I took was choosing a song fit to the situation and make it somehow better. And since all my musings somehow lead back to the Frames:

"I'm living out in the old house
And fighting on the stairs
And staring at the windows
Breeze blowing through the years"